


Step Up, Win A Prize!

by ragewerthers



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fairs, Festivals, Fluff, Gladnis, M/M, Summer Gladnis Week 2019, just them being cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 12:56:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20291812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ragewerthers/pseuds/ragewerthers
Summary: Gladio takes Ignis to the Sylleblossom Festival for their first date.  Perhaps a bit of showing off wouldn't hurt though it definitely might surprise!





	Step Up, Win A Prize!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my final entry for Summer Gladnis 2019 and I picked 'fairs/festivals'! This took a slightly different turn to what I'd been thinking, but I wanted to thank @bgn846 for helping me pick the right choice!
> 
> You can also find me at ragewerthers.tumblr
> 
> Enjoy! :D

The Sylleblossom festival was always exciting to attend.

Rides that were terrifying and fun, vendors selling every sort of unhealthy food and more prize stalls then you could imagine.

The prize stalls held an almost siren call to the Shield as he seemed unable to pull away from any challenge shouted at him from one of it’s vendors.

“Hey big guy, think you can knock over these jars with just three baseballs? You could win yourself a prize!”

“Look at you, big fella. You look like you’ve got decent aim. Think you can hit the target dead center? Four consecutive shots and you could win this giant moogle plush!”

“Woah! We got a muscle man here! Think you can take top rank as our resident strong man? Pick up that mallet over there and take a swing! See if you can ring the bell!”

Each and every call was met with a fiery look of determination, a handful of money and Gladio winning each and every challenge.

So far he’d won a hat with that looked like a chocobo, a giant moogle plush and at least forty seven different bracelets, necklaces and tiny trinkets from various other vendors.

The recipient of all of these gifts was one slightly ridiculous looking Adviser who now donned at least seven flashing necklaces, the chocobo hat, four braided bracelets and had three stuffed moogles in his arms, all of varying sizes.

“Gladio, you know you don’t have to accept every challenge,” the man quipped as he tried to keep hold of his bounty of moogles.

“Hey… if they wanna issue a challenge they better be prepared to face the consequences,” Gladio said with a bright smile. He couldn’t have felt happier! Here he was with Ignis on a rare day off, enjoying the festival and each others company. He’d had a crush on the guy for years now and had finally worked up the nerve to ask him out. This had seemed like a fun first date idea and now he was able to not only shower the man in gifts, but do a little showing off as well!

Ignis chuckled at the answer, a bright smile on his face and Gladio wondered how in the name of the Six the guy was able to make a Chocobo hat and flashing necklaces look stylish.

“Fair point. Though I do believe this is a bit unfair, don’t you think?” he asked and Gladio looked at him curiously, unsure what he meant.

Ignis smiled and lifted his armful of moogles and prizes. “This. You’ve won all sorts of things and given them all to me. Let me return the favor. There’s a particular game I rather enjoy playing. Perhaps I might even win you a small trinket?”

Gladio wanted to decline. Ignis didn’t owe him anything! However, the little smile playing on the Advisers lips easily swayed him and he nodded.

“Alright, Iggy. Lead the way,” he offered, following him over to a nearby stall with a wall of balloons.

“Hey, hey, hey! Do I see a new challenger?” the vendor asked, his eyes instantly going to Gladio before the Shield shook his head with a smile.

“No, no. That’s the guy you wanna be talkin’ to,” the young Shield said as he nodded to Ignis who was slowly unlaboring himself of his horde of goodies.

The vendor looked at the man a bit skeptically, his eyes flitting back to Gladio to see if he was joking before taking in Ignis once more.

Ignis didn’t stand out like Gladio. He didn’t have the hulking frame or the bravado the man always seemed to carry about. He was leaner and definitely looked more scholarly, so the vendor wasn’t entirely sure what the kid was trying to prove, but far be it for him to pass up money.

“Okay. If you’re sure you wanna let him try,” he said, gathering three darts from the back wall and bringing them to the front to hand to Ignis.

“Now, let me give you some pointers, kid,” the vendor began as Ignis took the darts, the Adviser looking them over as if he’d never seen them before.

Gladio narrowed his eyes a bit at the change in Iggy’s demeanor. He looked like he was learning all the rules for the first time. Like he’d never seen a dart before in his life and every time the vendor gave him a tip he nodded with wide eyes as if he’d just been given the secret of life. He even held the darts wrong a few times as the man tried to show him the best way to throw them.

Hadn’t Ignis said that this was a game he rather enjoyed playing? Maybe he meant he had wanted to try this game because it looked enjoyable?

Before he could ponder much longer the vendor stepped back and out of the way of Ignis, obviously thinking that with the way the kid was fumbling during his tutorial he might end up with a dart somewhere it shouldn’t be.

“Okay,” he announced, looking at the spectacled man. “You have three darts. There are different colored balloons on the wall. Get three of the same color balloon you win a prize in that color bracket. I’ll even give you a little hint since you’re at a disadvantage. Blues are top prizes, yellows are medium and pinks, greens and purples go down from there. Understood?”

Ignis bit his lip as if concentrating and nodded. “I think so. So… blue is the best, right?” he asked uncertainly.

The vendor nodded. “Yep. Three blue’s and you can get any prize from the top bracket.”

“Okay. Well. Here I go,” Ignis said taking a step back. Then another… then a couple more so that he was stood almost against the front counter of the stall across from the dart game.

Ignis took a deep breath and then in the blink of an eye he sent the darts flying.

The first dart he threw so fast, neither Gladio nor the vendor knew it had gone till they heard the pop of a balloon.

However, before Gladio could verify he watched Ignis continue to move. This time his eyes trained on a different spot in the tent and with a flick of his wrist the next dart went whistling buy and another pop resounded.

Finally, Ignis tossed the last dart in the air, drawing his leg back before bringing if forward and kicking the tail end of the dart towards the balloon wall. He let himself follow through with the momentum of the kick, ending with a flourishing spin before drawing himself back up and narrowing his eyes at the wall as if to make sure he hadn’t made an error.

Meanwhile, Gladio and the vendor were standing slack jawed at what they’d just witnessed.

The vendor because he hadn’t expected this gangly scholar to be deadly with a dart.

Gladio because he realized that Ignis had been toying with the man so he could get extra info to get top prizes.

As Ignis drew closer and seen he’d gotten three blue balloons he smiled a bit and looked at the vendor. “So… I get to pick from the top prizes, correct?” he asked and the vendor finally seemed to get his senses back.

“I…well… yeah, but…,” he tried to come up with some sort of argument about being swindled into giving away his secrets because really, he didn’t expect the kid to even hit the wall!

“But what? Isn’t that the rules? Hit three balloons of the same color, win a prize from that tier. Since you were so kind as to give me which balloons I should aim for I think it’s only fair,” Ignis said with an almost innocent smile.

The vendor really couldn’t deny that he was right and before long Ignis and Gladio were walking away, Gladio’s arms now filled with a giant stuffed behemoth toy.

“You… I can’t… did you just…,” Gladio babbled after they’d been walking for a little bit and Ignis couldn’t help laughing.

“What? Aren’t I allowed to show off a little for our first date as well?” he asked softly, glancing over to the Shield and giving him a bright and playful smile.

That was the moment, right then and there that Gladio realized… this was the guy he was going to marry.

This chocobo hat wearing, flashy necklace donning, moogle plush carrying, darts swindling man would one day be his husband.

Gladio felt his cheeks flush up as he realized he’d been staring a bit too long and he laughed, moving closer to wrap an arm around the smaller man and lead him toward the funnel cake stand.

“Of course! Though how about the next game we try we do a battle? Top score buys the funnel cake?” he teased and Ignis laughed.

“You’re on,” the young Adviser agreed.

The rest of the day was spent winning far too many more prizes, getting slightly sick off of sweets and culminating on an easy going ride on the ferris wheel. As they reached the top a shy kiss was pressed to Ignis’s cheek, their hands finding one another as their fingers laced together.

This was definitely going to be a Sylleblossom festival to remember.


End file.
